The 64-gun ship-of-the-line can hold its own in battle, but is cheaper to build and run than heavier ships.

The 64-gun ship may lack some of the firepower of the other ships-of-the-line, but it still has a respectable broadside, and can be constructed at a lower cost. It can be regarded as a stepping stone between 50- and 74-gun ships, with more broadside weight than the first yet with a faster reloading time than the second thanks to its lighter cannons. Opinions differ as to whether this is a happy compromise.

The Royal Navy classed a 64-gun ship as a “third rate” ship, normally a classification reserved for 74-gun ships. Although small, the 64 was not without supporters: Captain Horatio Nelson’s favourite ship was HMS Agamemnon, a 64 built at Bucklers Hard in the New Forest. His crew, often called Agamemnons, loyally followed Nelson to his subsequent ships and successes. The Agamemnon itself was used by the Royal Navy during the American and French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic War and was at the Battle of Trafalgar. After nearly 30 years of hard service it ran aground off South America, but the entire crew survived the wreck. The "Eggs and Bacon", as the crew called it, looked after its men to the last.

The 64-gun ship-of-the-line class of ships is a compromise in cost and guns between 50-gun ships-of-the-line and 74-gun ships-of-the-line, with a respectable broadside and decent hull strength allowing them to survive short engagements with more powerful ships. They are superior or equal in every way to 50-gun ships-of-the-line, save cost. However, they are outclassed by 74-gun ships-of-the-line, which have even more crew, guns, firepower, and hull strength, yet identical accuracy, reloading, and speed. Their only advantage over its larger counterpart are their cheaper cost. The 64-gun ship-of-the-line is one of the few ships that France can't build, yet most factions can. Great Britain starts the Europe campaign with one 64-gun third rate in the English Channel.

Great Britain's ship statistics are different from others; differences are listed below (traits that to not differ are not listed).

Game files categorize the British version of the ship (64-gun Third Rate) as a third rate, but categorize the generic version of the ship (64-gun ship-of-the-line) as a fourth rate. This would suggest the generic version to be smaller ships armed with fewer and weaker cannons, but the two versions are functionally near-identical in-game.